MANILA: Boxing hero Manny Pacquiao, who faces his biggest fight against unbeaten American Floyd Mayweather, already holds top spot as the number one taxpayer in the Philippines, government records showed Saturday.
A list of top individual tax-payers for 2013, posted on the Bureau of Internal Revenue website, put the boxer-turned-congressman at number one with 163.84 million pesos ($3.72 million) in taxes paid.
This was about 64 percent higher than the second-highest taxpayer.
Internal revenue chief Kim Henares confirmed that Pacquiao topped the list but stressed that he still had a case pending over alleged non-payment of taxes earlier.
Although hailed as a national hero for his boxing feats, Pacquiao has run afoul of tax officials before and is embroiled in a dispute with the revenue bureau saying he owed at least 2.2 billion pesos in unpaid taxes for 2008 and 2009.
“The case is still ongoing. No, he has not settled. Being a top tax-payer... does not mean he paid the correct taxes. The two issues are not synonymous,” Henares said in a statement to AFP.
The boxer has previously insisted he paid the 2008 and 2009 taxes in the United States, so did not need to do so in the Philippines because the two countries have an agreement allowing their citizens to avoid double taxation.